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The author stresses that participation has an intrinsic value for the citizens. In addition, it is also important as a means of civic education, a process in which citizens learn civic values. A comparison of electoral participation in democratic polities shows great differences among them. The author argues that the level of voter turnout depends on a number of factors, such as the features of electoral law, the characteristics of social situation, voters' motivation & political mobilization. Electoral law influences electoral participation in two ways: directly through legal provisions regulating the voting procedure & indirectly through basic characteristics of the electoral system, which more or less motivate the voters. The features of social situation that have an impact on voter turnout include importance of elections, voters' emotional involvement & uncertainty of electoral outcome. Voters' motivation depends on the type of individual involvement in politics, which ranges from a minority of political activists to a majority of political spectators, whose involvement is confined to voting, & a large number of apathetic citizens, who don't care for politics at all. Electoral campaigns can be considered mainly as an instrument to mobilize the supporters of political parties, not the apathetic. In the second part of the article the author looks more closely into features of electoral participation or abstention in Croatia, based on empirical survey data from 1990 to 2003. His findings show that mainly two factors are important for the level of participation: the individual feeling of either helplessness or positive impact in politics & the sense of political responsibility. Unlike in most other democracies, socio-economic status doesn't have a significant impact on participation in Croatia. 7 Tables, 10 Pictures, 23 References. Adapted from the source document.

The Beijing Platform for Action represented a conceptual shift from a focus on "the status of women" and "gender inequality" to the objectives of "gender equality" and "women's empowerment". Among other things, it called for gender‐disaggregated data for planning and evaluation. In this paper we define women's empowerment as a multi‐dimensional process of achieving basic capabilities, legal rights, and participation in key social, economic, political, and cultural domains, and we offer a set of indicators for its measurement. Although "cultural participation and rights" is difficult to measure, we argue that gender indicators should include the important area of women's access to and participation in cultural institutions and decision‐making.

This study examines changes in grassroots participation and repression under the Chinese leaders Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping. Under Xi, the Party-state has launched political campaigns against a range of grassroots activists and organizations. This entails a shift in state repression from fragmentation to consolidation, and it has resulted in less room for contentious participation. However, institutionalized political participation—activities by ordinary people aimed at changing government behavior through official channels—has persisted. The Hu administration presided over the development of new institutions of public participation, and there is little evidence for their decay. Despite important breaks from the past under Xi, there are noteworthy continuities in the institutions that enable grassroots participation.

To address the problem that social workers feel inadequately prepared to engage in the political system, the current study utilizes a content analysis approach to review political participation content in Human Behavior in the Social Environment (HBSE) textbooks. Thus, this study seeks to address the question: How do HBSE textbooks address political components of CSWE EPAS Competency 5: Engage in Policy Practice? Initially, literature regarding social work political participation and political practice in social work curriculum as well as an overview of competency-based education is provided. Additionally, a review of the Civic Volunteerism Model, Systems Theory, and Bloom's Taxonomy is explored. Through the Council on Social Work Education's (CSWE) Competency 5, the Civic Volunteerism Model, Niemi et al. (1991) internal political efficacy scale, and Bloom's Taxonomy, a coding rubric incorporating twelve political practice activities was developed. The coding rubric was used to review for frequency of political content, both implicitly and explicitly, as well as the integration of political content in textbook learning objectives. Utilizing the Faculty Center Network (FCN), a sample of six HBSE textbooks was developed. In total, 607 learning objectives were reviewed, of which 222 incorporated political components of Competency 5. The content analysis identified three key findings. Primarily, while political themes are addressed in HBSE textbooks, these themes are largely implicit and tend to ignore the role that politics play in individual development. Additionally, learning objectives do not adequately connect political practice to social work practice. Also, the textbooks did not include any learning objectives related to the electoral system, ignoring the role of electoral advocacy. The findings of the present study necessitate that future HBSE textbooks include more explicit connection to political participation in chapter learning objectives. Political content must also integrate throughout textbooks and should not just cluster in chapters and books addressing macro practices. Additionally, textbooks must clearly link social work practice with policy practice. Finally, textbooks must incorporate components of electoral advocacy. The current exploratory content analysis is only an initial step in understanding the role social work education plays in preparing political practitioners.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Toward a Theory of Urban Political Behavior -- 3. The Site of the Study -- 4. Ghetto-Specific Behaviors in Black and White -- 5. Neighborhood Poverty and Social Isolation in Inner-City America -- 6. Neighborhood Poverty and Political Participation -- 7. Does Family Context Matter? -- 8. The Impact of Neighborhoods, Families and Social Isolation on Political Behavior -- 9. National Urban Policy and Political Behavior in Inner-City Communities -- Appendix A: Questionnaire -- Appendix B: Methodological Appendix -- Bibliography -- Index

In this study, a group of Swedish social media users – politically active as well as "unpolitical" users – are interviewed in focus groups as well as individually about their attitudes towards online political participation, providing a deeper, more informed view of how social media participation works. Sweden, with its high levels of voluntary participation and with an avant-garde position in Internet, broadband and social media penetration, could indeed function as a most-likely case for studying whether social media has any positive effects on participation. The participants in the study are well-educated, young and comfortable using the Internet, further increasing the probability of finding individuals engaged in digital activism. The results are puzzling: on the one hand, there is an almost unanimous contempt for political campaigns in social media among the participants. On the other hand, almost all of the participants are engaging with politics in social media in various ways. The article concludes in arguing that intensive methods must be used in order to gain a richer understanding of the political behaviour of citizens online.

One of the most trying issues in electoral studies in Nagaland is the discourse of womens exclusion from the electoral process. There is a visible trend of men dominating the political terrain across the board, whereas the participation and representation of women in politics is invisible. This result in women being outside the centers of decision-making in terms of influence and status that is available to men. Women in Nagaland have been able to strengthen their political visibility only as voters. This paper contextualizes debates over the political status of women within the complex political and cultural space in Nagaland. The structural, institutional and situational barriers in the context of womens political participation and representation are discussed.

THE PURPOSE OF THE PROGRAM - A COURSE IN WELFARE POLITICS WHICH REQUIRED 3-5 HOURS A WEEK WORKING IN COMMUNITY AGENCIES - DESCRIBED IN THIS PAPER WAS TO MEET THE DEMANDS FOR MORE COURSE CONTENT. INCLUDED IN THIS ARTICLE IS A STATEMENT OF BACKGROUND OF DEVELOPMENT, AS WELL AS A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROGRAM.

While much research attention has been focused recently upon understanding and interpreting social movements which emerge in response to technological hazards, comparatively little work has been directed toward the systematic examination of factors related to protest activity in the aftermath of natural hazards. The authors study community activism after a major flood mitigation project failed to provide the promised protection from stormwater damage. They conclude that citizen response to natural events is becoming far less distinct from that witnessed in the aftermath of man-made events, because the technology to mitigate impacts of natural disasters is becoming more available. The results of the study show that solidarity is a necessary ingredient for social movement facilitation, particularly when the movement is loosely structured and urgently organized, and that the presence of solidarity aids in the communication of grievances, recruitment of members, and the coordination of activities.

This paper discusses the design of things. This is done in an attempt to conceptually explore some of the political and practical challenges to participatory design today. Which things, and which participants? The perspective is strategic and conceptual. Two approaches are in focus, participatory design (designing for use before use) and meta-design (designing for design after design). With this framing the challenge for professional design to participate in public controversial things is considered.

"Political Behavior of Sexual and Gender Minorities" published on by Oxford University Press.

Rational actor theory and the facts of political participation have long been in an uneasy relationship. Many citizens vote and take part in other political activities when theory would predict that they would take a free ride. This paper draws on several analyses of citizen participation for some of which rational actor theory is quite useful and for others it is less so. It attempts to specify the conditions under which the theory is applicable. It concludes that rational actor theory is more potent when applied to issues of cost rather than benefits or when the goals of participation can be specified in a clear manner and one can measure their degree of attainment.

This paper examines the rapprochement between the first black political party in Brazil – Brazilian Black Front - and the fascist party - Brazilian Integralist Action - as a microcosm to assess the challenges faced by Afro-Brazilians in the initial stages of black political activism in the changing Brazilian political atmosphere in the 1930s. The mutual opposition to European immigration, the authoritarian inclinations in the leadership of both parties, and the failure of the other side of the political spectrum, led by the Communist Party, to address race, are the three suggested explanations to explain such political collaboration. This study demonstrates that the first Brazilian black political party faced a twofold challenge. At same time that it attempted to find its own political voice, it needed to assess the best alternatives to seek political coalitions in a setting still dominated by whites who were reluctant to acknowledge racial inequalities in Brazilian society.